Sweater Weather (M), Part 3 of 3 posted 6/28 (Hindsight 'verse)

[phoenix]

Back in October, I started writing a Fall Festival story for Izzy, Jamie, and their friends Matty and Nico, who are the other couple at the heart of this 'verse. It's definitely not October anymore, but here, have Part 1 anyway!

To pique your interest:
- Nico is allergic to pretty much everything. Including most of the things you'd find at a fall festival on a farm...
- Cold air bothers Jamie's nose. He tends to forget that until after he's forgotten to wear warm clothing. In New England. In the evening. In the fall.

Links:  Intro to Izzy & Jamie (adult section); tiny Christmas fic (Original Fiction section). Series link on AO3 is here.

Enjoy!

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Jamie can't stop smiling by the time they get to the front of the line. "God, the horses are so beautiful."

 

Izzy's been thinking more about how soft hay bales look from a distance, and how very not-soft they are when you actually go to sit on them for a two-mile ride, but now that Jamie points it out— "Majestic." She squeezes his hand and he smiles at her and it just… still makes her heart flutter, three months in.

 

"I'd love to have horses someday," Jamie says dreamily, and Izzy looks up at him, quizzical.

 

"Do you… know anything about horses?" She's trying to think back through everything he's told her about his childhood, and she's coming up with suburbs, and the city, and now a college town.

 

"Nope!" He seems completely unconcerned. "You'll have to teach me."

 

She laughs. "Just because I grew up in the middle of nowhere doesn't mean I know about horses. Cows… maybe a little bit, through osmosis. But only the rich kids had horses."

 

He hums, clearly not convinced that he couldn't figure out this whole horse thing somehow. Izzy's just digging around in her purse for her ID when Jamie calls out, "Matty! Hey!"

 

A tall guy in a beanie and plaid flannel waves back. He's walking over with another guy about their age with a sweater and glasses and a small messenger bag. Izzy runs through her mental rolodex, and comes up with, "Matty, from… work?"

 

"Yup!" Jamie looks back and forth between Matty and the front of the line, where a heavily bearded guy is checking IDs and giving out wristbands for the beer garden. Or, well, for the whole "Fall Festival After Dark" event. The all-ages event had been this afternoon; tonight was all twenty-one-and-up, and you were free to bring your beer into the corn maze with you. "Do you mind if we jump back in line to go hang out with them?"

 

"Sure, fine by me." There are only about a dozen people behind them. They step out of line and intercept Matty and the guy he's with as they join the back of the line.

 

"Good to see you!" Jamie shakes hands with Matty, then pulls him in for a quick, backslapping hug. "This is my girlfriend, Izzy." There's warmth in her chest at the word.

 

"Hey, nice to meet you." Matty shakes her hand, and his is warm and strong. "This is my husband, Nico."

 

"Nico! Great to finally meet you," Jamie says, and there's another round of handshakes and greetings, and then they have to step forward because the line's moving again.

 

Matty and Jamie jump right in talking about something about work, so Izzy turns to Nico. She's about to ask him… something; she hasn't decided what small-talk topic to go for yet; but his eyebrows are knitted, mouth slightly open, a large white handkerchief in his hand, so she waits.

 

It only takes a second. "heh'CHMMPH!"

 

"Bless you!"

 

Nico sniffles and half-coughs, half-clears his throat, and then, hesitantly, lowers the handkerchief and raises a hand apologetically. "Thanks. Just allergies. I promise."

 

"Oh, allergies suck."

 

He gives a short laugh, like that's completely underselling it. "And this is with meds."

 

"So do you work for the college, too?" Jamie and Matty are both in the Learning Support Center in the college library, where they help students improve their researching and writing skills. It's mostly the two of them, with upper-level student employees as well, so it's a good thing they'd hit it off so well.

 

Nico shakes his head. "No, I work for a non-profit that supports food banks. Mostly behind the scenes, dealing with spreadsheets and all that, so I get to work from home a lot of the time. You?"

 

"Hey, same." They take another step forward as the large group ahead of them makes their way onto the hay wagon. "The work-from-home part, I mean. Freelance writing. Nothing too exciting, but it pays the bills. Some transcribing to fill in the gaps."

 

"Oh, ni… hih…tchSHHu!" He sniffs, and finishes his thought: "Nice." He blows his nose. "Sorry."

 

She waves off the apology. "Bless. Are you gonna be okay with all of… this?" She gestures around at the hay and the corn maze and the blanket of leaves on the ground.

 

He hums his thanks and snuffles into his handkerchief a bit more before pocketing it. "I've got more meds I could take, they just knock me out, so I'm trying to stick to one dose if I can. We'll see."

 

She nods, and then Matty and Jamie turn back to the two of them and the conversation envelops them again, and then they're at the front of the line, IDs and wristbands, and then they climb up into the hay wagon. They find spots together near the front, and Izzy's grateful for the old wool blankets spread out over the hay bales that are protecting her legs from being stabbed by hay through her thermal leggings. She's got on thick socks and ankle boots as well, and a chunky sweater over a long-sleeved shirt and under a vest, along with a warm hat and an even warmer scarf, and gloves. Jamie had poked gentle fun at her when she showed up at his house to drive over, but she's pretty sure he's going to regret his fall-jacket-and-no-other-warm-clothes option once the sun actually goes down. For now, though, she just tucks herself under his arm as the driver turns around and calls, "Everyone ready?", and then a minute later they're on their way.

 

"What do you think, should we go for the beer first?" she asks the other three. It's definitely the major draw of the event, seeing what the local brewery has come up with this time. It's always about a 50-50 split whether the brewery's outlandish ideas will be amazing or barely palatable. Either way, it's become a whole thing for people to film themselves trying the new beers and post it online. At this point, the stuff basically markets itself.

 

"Last year everyone went there first. The lines were ridiculous." Nico rubs a handkerchief-covered finger under his nose absentmindedly, then scrunches up his nose like it itches, but successfully fights the tickle off with some more vigorous rubbing. "We did apple picking first, and then came back and were able to get served pretty much right away."

 

"That sounds good," Jamie says. "Or maybe pumpkins?" He frowns. "Although I don't really want to carry a pumpkin around all night."

 

Matty laughs, warm and appealing. "I keep forgetting you weren't here last year. They've got this whole system up where we're going to be getting off the wagon. You put your name on a stake in the grass to claim a spot, and then you just pile up everything you buy. They load it up and bring it back to the parking lot so it's waiting when you get to your car." A wry smile. "They don't want anything getting in the way of everyone making lots of impulse buys. Pretty convenient, though."

 

"h'ngxxtch! ehhh… ik-tCHHH'uh!" Nico blinks, and sniffles, and rubs at his nose with his handkerchief and then his eyes with his knuckles. Matty's got his arm around him, thumb moving against his elbow in a comforting sort of way.

 

"Bless you!" Jamie, as heartfelt as always.

 

Nico laughs hoarsely, a little congested. "I wouldn't try to keep up with that. It's gonna be happening all night." Matty brushes his knuckles against Nico's arm reassuringly again.

 

Jamie shrugs, unconcerned. "I don't mind." Then, suddenly concerned, "Unless you do?"

 

Nico shakes his head with a smile. "Of all the reactions I get in public? I'll take that any day."

 

"Jeez. People are jerks," Jamie declares, and then his arms tightens around Izzy with a suppressed shiver when a breeze comes through. She looks up at him sideways, concerned, and he just smiles and shakes his head slightly: Don't worry about it. Then, turning back to Matty: "But yeah, no, I started just after Thanksgiving last year. And then you switched into the writing lab, in, what, mid-December? Right as the students were leaving? God, you were so sick the first time I met you."

 

Matty blushes, sudden and hard, and Nico puts a hand on his leg.

 

"Every year, huh, babe?" Nico says, look up and back at Matty, who looks like he's trying to leave this conversation through sheer force of will. "Something about December. I feel like I've seen you sick for Christmas more times than you've been well."

 

"That sucks," Izzy says sympathetically, and Matty just clears his throat, embarrassed.

 

"Well, maybe this'll be your year," Jamie says, smiling at him. "Actually make it through to New Year's unscathed."

 

"Well, you've jinxed it now," says Nico under his breath, raising his eyebrows at Matty, who's watching their destination get closer like he's counting down the moments until he can— and does— abruptly say, "We're here!"

To be continued...


 

Edited June 29, 2022 by phoenix

[Kolen]

Mm, interesting concept.

I love how you portray the characters relationships, it's so heartwarming and makes me want more.

Because I get little warm fuzzies in my heart 

I also love that title, and I'm wondering is it in reference to the song sung by The Neighbourhood?

[phoenix]

Thank you, @Kolen! Yes, the title is from The Neighbourhood. 🙂

Here's Part 2:

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Matty and Nico agree to start with the pumpkins at the same time that Izzy and Jamie decide to head for the apple trees, so they laugh and agree to meet up at the beer garden once they're done. Izzy laces her gloved fingers into Jamie's bare ones, and he shivers again. She rubs her other hand up and down his arm.

"I think the temperature's supposed to drop even more once the sun goes down." It's already starting to. It hadn't been nearly this chilly when they left home.

"I'm fine. What size bag do we want?" He furrows his brow. "What the fuck is a bushel?"

She laughs. "No idea. I think we probably want the little bag, right? Unless you're planning on doing a whole bunch of baking I don't know about?"

He nods in agreement and takes one of the smaller bags, and they walk between the trees together. The sun is getting low and golden through the leaves. Most of the people had gone for the beer, just like Nico had predicted, and those who had come to the orchard first are naturally spreading out. It's easy and uncrowded and it just feels perfectly like fall.

Cool air and all. Jamie shivers again, and when Izzy rubs her thumb over his knuckles, he sniffs, and sniffs again.

"Okay?" she murmurs, and he nods and scrubs his jacket-sleeved wrist under his nose, and sniffs some more.

"All good. What do you think, should we start over there?"

They pick apples, moving slowly from tree to tree. Izzy takes photos while Jamie sniffles against his wrist. The fabric of his jacket sleeve is darkening as it collects the dampness.

heh'eh… h'TSCHhh!

She looks up in time to see the mist of it falling in the golden light, backlit by the setting sun.

"Bless you!" Just a little bit concerned.

"'M okay," he says, the cuff of his jacket pressed to his nose again. "This always happens when…" He trails off with yet another sniff.

"When you get cold?" She raises an eyebrow at him. It's not an I told you so, but it is the jig is up; time to stop trying to pretend.

He sighs and scrubs his wrist under his nose. "Yeah." He shivers, and shivers again, arms wrapping around himself, finally giving in.

"Well." Stepping close. Wrapping her arms around him. He drops his head and tucks his forehead into her collarbone and soaks in her warmth, but the angle means that he's sniffling helplessly in seconds.

"Iz— I—" His breath catches, and she lets go so that he can step back and direct a heavily misting h'kTCHHH! toward the ground between them. "Oh— fuck—" he mutters, and then pulls in a quick, deep breath for the forceful heh-TSHHIU! that follows on its heels.

His nose is really running now, and after a quick look around, he unzips his jacket, pulls up the hem of his t-shirt, and mops up the wetness that's escaping down to his lip. A few more sharp sniffles, and things seem to be under control for the moment.

"Fuck," he says again, wrapping his arms back around himself without re-zipping his jacket.

"I think we've got enough apples," Izzy says, closing the gap between them so she can do up his jacket zipper herself and kiss his cold cheek when she's done. "Let's go get you warm."

The little shop where they sell pies and cider and donuts is on their way back. When they step inside, the sudden warmth has Jamie's nose running even more furiously, his sleeve pressed hard underneath to contain it. Izzy rest a hand at the small of his back, then spots the napkin dispenser at the food counter. She half-jogs over, grabs a handful and then, on second thought, a handful more, and then heads back to Jamie to press the first few into his palm.

"Ohthankgod," a mumbled rush. There are enough people around that Izzy's napkin heist hadn't drawn any particular attention, but it also meant that Jamie dealing with his nose… situation… definitely would. He steps back outside and Izzy follows with a curious sound, but her wordless question is answered when Jamie stops just outside the shop next to the wooden barrel that turns out to be concealing a trash can and sets to work blowing his nose. Every time he thinks he's done, a deep breath of chilled air sets off another stray eh't'CHmmph!, muffled in the napkins' folds.

Finally, he groans and runs a hand down his face and sniffs experimentally, and sighs with relief when nothing happens. "Okay. Fuck, sorry. That wasn't…" He shakes his head. "Sorry."

She kisses him instead of answering, because after all, their whole relationship had started in a mess of shared germs, and he should really know by now that she doesn't mind. "They're selling handmade hats and mittens and stuff inside."

"I'm not going to wear mittens," Jamie protests, but he's already shivering again.

In the end, Jamie gets a winter hat— red and blue and handsome— and Izzy finds a light blue alpaca-wool scarf with white patterns woven in. Back outside, she switches her old scarf for the new one, and wraps the one she'd been wearing earlier around Jamie's neck. It's thick and warm and the dark blue matches the pattern in his new hat.

"Better?"

He sniffles against the temperature change back to the rapidly cooling outdoors, and grudgingly nods.

Matty and Nico have already found their pumpkin, which is larger than seems reasonable but they both look pretty proud of it. Izzy and Jamie pay for their apples and set them next to Matty and Nico's giant pumpkin.

"Looks like the beer line's cleared out," Matty reports, peering over the crowd, one hand at Nico's back. Nico's blowing his nose into the same handkerchief he had before, now so damp he's struggling to find dry corners to use.

"What do you think?" Izzy turns to Jamie, who's rubbing his own still-dripping nose into the inside of his borrowed scarf. "Do we want to grab our pumpkins now, or…?"

"Beer," he says decisively, sniffling experimentally and apparently deciding it's safe to emerge from the wool.

"Beer," she agrees. The pumpkins can wait.

 

to be continued...

[RipleyToo]

I’m LOVING this so far! Can’t wait until the next part! Jamie is pretty good at hiding his sneezes and sniffles! I love their relationship so much!

Edited February 21, 2022 by RipleyToo

[Kolen]

Yay! My spidey sense has struck golden again!

I love the addition, and am happy to wait patiently for more!

[RavenWatson]

Love it

[phoenix]

Thanks, all! Here's the third and final part!

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"Spicy beer," Izzy says dubiously, eying Jamie and Matty's choice.

"Spicy beer," Matty confirms, and takes a sip and immediately splutters. "Very spicy beer," he amends between coughs. Jamie tries his, and has to scramble for the extra napkins in his pocket when his nose starts streaming again.

"Oh!" He's coughing, too, eyes watering. "Fuck. Yeah."

"Oh god," Izzy mutters, and Nico just laughs quietly and takes a sip of the kind he and Izzy had gotten. Pear, mostly, but there's a list of other orchard- and garden-type ingredients so long she had honestly stopped reading. Definitely experimental, but good. "I'll stick with this, thanks."

HEH-t'chu! Nico scrunches up his nose and hitches his way into another h'hih… hih… tchSHU! Matty rubs his arm reassuringly.

"Your loss," Jamie says, voice choked and face screwed up against the heat, and then turns to Nico. "Bless you."

"Ugh, thanks. TCHiew! Beer always gets me, especially these floral ones." Nico swipes at his nose with a new handkerchief he'd pulled from his bag and checks his watch. "We could do the maze now, and then you guys can get your pumpkin on the way out? If that works?"

"Let's do it." Jamie wipes his eyes and nose and takes another long swig. "This is good! Once you get used to it."

Matty follows suit, and shakes his head hard in the aftermath. "Yup."

Izzy rolls her eyes, and grabs Jamie's hand, and they go.

"You sure this is a good idea?" Matty asks Nico quietly behind her. She glances back to see Matty holding both their beers and Nico with his face buried in his handkerchief.

NGXX-chmp! ngxt! He blows his nose, eyes red and slightly swollen. "It's fine."

Matty puts an arm around his shoulder and pulls him close, and kisses his temple.

The barrage of sneezes don't let up, though, once they're in line for the maze. If anything, they're coming quicker; breathless things that stumble over each other: h'CHNGT, h'ch, ch, ch, ih… TSCHIEW! He pants in the aftermath, his breath already catching again.

"Holy shit, bless you," Jamie says, full of concern. He's now holding three beers, since Matty had handed off both his and Nico's at the beginning of the latest fit so he could get one hand on Nico's back and the other on his chest.

"Okay," Matty is saying quietly to Nico. "More meds time."

Nico just nods, and tries to keep his breathing steady enough to dig through his bag, but he's overtaken by another round of those small, desperate sneezes and just shakes his head instead.

"Okay," Matty murmurs, and kisses his temple again, and takes Nico's bag himself. He comes up with a packet of Benadryl and a small water bottle and hands both to Nico.

"Fuck," Nico mutters, but manages to down both.

Some quick calculations say that they're going to get to the front of the corn maze line before the Benadryl kicks in. "Should we…?" Izzy asks, gesturing to an out-of-the-way spot.

Matty nods, and they make their way out of the line and over to sit on the stone wall.

"I'm sorry," Nico says, but the word is half cut off by another h'CHHu! "You guys cah… hih'TSCHU! can go and do the maze."

"We don't mind waiting," Jamie says, setting the beers down on the stone wall so that he can wipe his nose with his scarf again. It's getting chillier the later it gets.

Izzy shakes her head to emphasize that they don't mind. "Unless you want us to give you some space?"

Nico gives a congested half-sigh, half-groan. "No, it's fine. hhh! TCHxxngt! Ow." He scrubs the heel of his hand against his nose, and then his cheekbone, where his forceful stifle had apparently hurt most.

"Is this all from the beer?" Jamie asks.

"More so from the maze," Matty says, and Nico nods.

"Well, we definitely shouldn't do that, then!" Izzy pushes herself up off the wall, but Nico shakes his head hard.

"No. I miss out on too many g… HEHtchiew! …goddamn things, I am not missing this one, too." He rubs at his chest with a grimace, and Matty runs a hand back and forth over his shoulders.

"Well, let's let the meds kick in first, yeah?" Matty tucks Nico's hair behind his ear.

"Yeah." Nico sounds exhausted. "Just not too long, or I'll fall asleep standing up."

"The window is unfortunately small," Matty confirms.

"You just let us know." Izzy hops back up onto the wall to wait. "We'll follow you."

Gradually, the sneezing fits slow, and Nico can move his handkerchief away from his face for more than three seconds at a time. "Okay," he says. "Let's go."

 

As soon as they're into the maze, Izzy can see why Nico was having such a hard time. There's something about the dried cornstalks that's getting to her, and apparently to most of the other people in the maze. Her own ek-tchiew! is echoed by another sneeze from somewhere through the rows.

"Bless you." They'd finished their beers, or decided they were done trying to, before they headed in, and Jamie takes advantage of his free hands to bury his dripping nose in his scarf again.

"Thanks." She sniffles, and then can't stop. "Do you still have some of those napkins?" It takes some rummaging in his pockets, but Jamie comes up with a clean one. "Th… thanks. h'CHIEW! Oh, god, we're stuck in another dead end."

"This way!" Jamie leads them off like he knows exactly where they're going. Izzy just shrugs and follows along with the other two.

"Okay?" Matty asks Nico.

"Mhmm." He yawns. "Just getting sleepy." He rubs at his eyes and studies Matty. "You?"

Matty gives a frustrated sort of look at being caught and is immediately overtaken by a sneeze that he chokes back into near-silence with his nose pinched tightly between his fingers, just a swallowed sort of h'DDt! sound. It leaves him impossibly congested, and he blows his nose loudly with tissues from Nico's bag, which seems like an odd sort of juxtaposition to Izzy, but one she certainly has no plans to comment on.

"Yeah," Nico murmurs, tucking himself under Matty's arm and rubbing at his chest. "That's what I thought."

"Guys!" Jamie pokes his head around the corner just in front of them. "I found the flag! We got to the middle!"

Thank god.

By the time they get back out, Izzy's nose is running freely whenever she's not sneezing into her now-crumpled tissue (a replacement for the napkin, thanks to Nico's well-stocked bag), Jamie's shivering and sniffling again in the deepening cold, Matty's stifles look increasingly painful, and Nico is nearly asleep against Matty's side.

"We can skip the pumpkins." Izzy's surprised at how rough her voice sounds from all the sneezing.

"Wait!" Jamie rubs his nose into his scarf for the millionth time, makes a face, and rearranges to find a dry patch of wool. "I can get one really quick."

"Okay." She rubs at her eyes, and then her nose. Being out of the corn maze is better, less itchy, but she knows she's not going to be fully recovered until she can take a shower. "If you want to grab one for me, I trust your judgment."

Jamie jogs over to the pumpkin patch and finds the two he wants, then realizes that he needs to get the gardening shears from the employee in order to actually cut them off the vine. He freezes midstep, and then is suddenly bent double with a pair of sneezes. He shakes his head and pinches his scarf over his nose, then jogs to get the shears, then back to the pumpkins. By the time he makes it back to them, he's a little bit out of breath, but he's grinning triumphantly.

"Thank you, babe." Izzy kisses his cheek, and frowns. "Your nose is freezing."

"Tell me about it," Jamie says, and sniffs again. "They labeled our pumpkins, we'll get them back at the cars."

"Time to go?" Izzy looks at Matty and Nico questioningly. They both nod, Matty a little desperately (he's also doing better out in the fresh air but has gone through the rest of the tissues in Nico's bag) and Nico with a yawn.

They take the hay wagon back, the quiet punctuated by Nico's sleepy sneezes, and the fresh air is cool and crisp and is finally washing away the last of the corn maze pollen, or dust or mildew or whatever it was that had set everyone off.

It's not that late, but it feels it, the way that the dark is coming earlier and earlier every day, and by the time they've paid for and loaded up their purchases, Izzy does have to admit that she's ready to head home.

"This was fun!" She's got her arm looped with Jamie's, pressed in close to try to give him some body heat. "Allergy issues aside. It was great to meet you both."

"Dinner sometime?" Nico asks. "We're happy to host."

"They have a really nice house," Jamie puts in. "I've seen the pictures."

Matty waves him off. "We'll figure out a date and let you know." He's still a little congested. "See you on Monday, Jamie."

"Bye!"

-

"This was nice," Izzy says again, when they've pulled into Jamie's driveway.

Jamie nods and swipes at his nose one more time.

Izzy runs a hand through his hair. "You've just got to stay warm."

Jamie hums and kisses her palm. "You want to help me with that?"

She laughs, and gathers up her stuff to head inside. She hadn't particularly planned on staying, but… "Yes." Pumpkins and apples and knitted things threatening to spill out of both of their arms, and the stars bright above them in the cold sky, and the porch light warm and inviting. "I absolutely do."

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